BT saw its profits surge by 13 per cent in the second quarter as thousands more households signed up for its superfast broadband and sports TV.

It gained a net 88,000 extra broadband customers as its heavy investment in TV football rights appeared to pay off.

The 168-year-old former telecoms monopoly has transformed its business in recent years by investing in a new fibre network and offering a sports television service for broadband subscribers to increase customer loyalty.

Winner: BT's investment in its sports television service has been helping to attract more than 100,000 new customers every quarter since its launch

The TV sports package is offered for free to customers taking its internet and telephone services.

It paid £738million to air 38 Premier League games a season, and another £897million to show Champions League football from 2015.

BT has added more than 100,000 customers every three months for the past year since it announced its Premier League deal.

Adjusted pre-tax profits were up 13 per cent to £690 million for the quarter and ten per cent ahead to £1.33 billion.

However it warned it had been squeezed by rivals in the cut-throat battle for broadband customers, reporting the lowest level of customer growth for two years.

The group said it had enjoyed a successful start to its second season of showing top-flight football nonetheless with audiences up 45 per cent on average with a peak of 1.25 million watching the opening league fixture between Manchester United and Swansea.

BT said it added 38,000 customers for its own TV platform in the quarter and also announced a partnership with Netflix allowing BT customers to sign up directly for the video streaming service.

Revenue from the group's consumer arm rose seven per cent to £1.06 billion for the quarter, including a 17 per cent rise in turnover from broadband and TV.

BT also said the roll-out of its fibre network, which can be used by it and by other internet providers, had reached more than 21 million premises.

The group took the number of its own high-speed broadband customers to more than 2.5 million, with more than a third of its broadband customers now on fibre.